As Coronavirus is Canceling Sports Events, the Sports Industry is Scrambling

The COVID-19, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, has had a significant impact on every sector of the global economy, and the sports industry is no special in this regard. In an attempt to prevent the spread of the virus, many sports organizations, along with the professional sports players, have opted and supported postponement and cancellation of sports events preventing large scale gatherings.

Upon Rudy Gobert, the Utah Jazz player, testing positive for COVID-19, NBA was one of the first professional sports leagues in the US to suspend its season indefinitely “until further notice.” With 259 games still left upon season suspension, the potential losses in gate revenue alone are estimated to be no less than 400 million USD, not to mention hundreds of millions of dollars that NCAA and its hosts are estimated to lose in sponsorship and advertising.

Monaco, along with Spanish and Dutch Grand Prix had been postponed earlier, but, recently the ACM announced that this year’s Monaco Grand Prix will be canceled, followed by the cancellation of 12th The Historic Grand Prix of Monaco, which takes place every year 2 weeks prior to the F1 Grand Prix.

Tokyo Summer Olympics Remains Uncertain

One event whose fate remains uncertain as it’s yet to be canceled is the Tokyo Summer Olympics. Despite the International Olympic Committee insisting and urging the participants to keep preparing for the event, many athletes and sports organizations are pushing back against this insistence, and rightly so.

With the sports calendar wiped out completely, globally, the insistence for the games to go on this summer can’t be helped but be seen as an unwillingness to lose the potential revenue in ticket sales and advertising. The organizers are facing an astounding amount of criticism, from athletes and fans alike, and are asked for the postponement of the summer event.

Kaori Yamaguchi, Japanese Olympic committee board member, and a retired judoka says, “Opening the Olympics at a time when athletes could not train as much as they wanted to, runs counter to the motto of ‘athletes first,’” further adding that the games should be postponed.

The Loss of Revenue Because of Cancelation of Events

The cancellation of sports events has contributed to a great loss of revenue for many gambling companies, as well. These companies are quickly adapting and pivoting to different arenas. Wagers ranging from politics to oscar winners have started surfacing. The companies are also pushing their customers to play casino and poker online, just like the Mega Joker slot machine, to fight their losses and have started investing into television and social media advertisements for the same.

The economy has been badly hit by the coronavirus pandemic, with many businesses of all stripes closing their doors as a consequence of lockdowns. With the cancellation of all major sports events worldwide, the market change could be irreversible, so to speak, and it could be the end of the gambling industry as we know it.